Rush Limbaugh Calls Sandra Fluke a "Slut," Ignites Political Wildfire

(Radio talk show host and conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh salutes as he is introduced as a judge before a preliminary competition for the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino January 27, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.)

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

You will be shocked to learn that Rush Limbaugh’s mouth has again let loose comments most of the population may find offensive.

The conservative radio host is taking heat for calling a Georgetown Law School student a “slut” and a “prostitute” this week because she made the argument that health insurance providers for religious institutions should cover birth control.

Advertisement

Law student Sandra Fluke testified during a congressional hearing last week, after she was excluded from a hearing led by Republicans that featured all men. At Georgetown—a Jesuit university—Fluke and other women pay as much as $1,000 annually for contraception because campus health plans don’t cover birth control.

Limbaugh suggested on his radio show that because “she wants to be paid to have sex,” Fluke was a slut and a prostitute. His commentary did little to sway the legislative branch though—an attempt to allow any employer to decline coverage of contraception or any other service on moral grounds failed to pass the Senate on Thursday.

Ben Johnson is the producer of Marketplace Tech from American Public Media.